8 Awesome Free Guides I Wish I Had Read Years Ago

This post is for people who are in the same situation I was in just a few months ago. Dissatisfied with what you do for a living, you have a yearning to do something more fulfilling with your life, but you either don’t know what it is you want to do, you don’t know where to start, or you just don’t think it’s even possible. In short, you need help.

Also, I’m guessing you might not have a ton of spare money to splash out on courses and coaching, or at least you won’t if you plan on quitting your job any time soon!

So I’ve put together a list of some resources which I have read over the last six months, and which have helped me get through the times when I’ve doubted I can make it on my own.

Whether you need specific advice on how to make a living as an artist, help with discovering exactly what you want to do, or you just need reassurance that being self-employed isn’t a mug’s game, there will be something here for you.

Best of all, they are all completely free!

(Note: After two of the free guides, I have provided my recommendations for further reading from the same authors. If you buy the products I’ve recommended after clicking on those links, I get a share of the cover price. Just letting you know, in case you’re not comfortable with that kind of thing, but I assure you, those books are gold!)

So take a look, see if anything grabs your interest, and let me know what you think in the comments below.

1. 7 Keys to Discovering Your Passion

by Jonathan Mead

This is a great place to start if you are stuck in a boring job, you have an aching desire to do something more fulfilling with your life, but you really don’t know exactly what it is you want to do.

In this short guide, Jonathan Mead offers 7 simple steps you can take to help you find out what you’re really passionate about. By the time you’ve finished reading, you should have a much clearer idea of what you want to do with your life, and be more motivated to start living the life you want!

2. The Undeclared For Life Manifesto

by Emilie Wapnick

Another great resource for those of us who want to work for ourselves, but haven’t quite figured out what that will look like yet.

Emilie wrote this manifesto for people with multiple interests and talents (whom she calls ‘multipotentialites’), after coming to the conclusion that you don’t have to specialise in a single field, and it’s perfectly possible to design a lifestyle and a career that revolves around all of your skills and hobbies.

The book contains a ton of useful advice to guide you through defining who you are and what you want your life to be like, as well as tips on how you can finance your multipotentialite lifestyle, and the skills you’ll need along the way.

Further Reading – Renaissance Business

If you loved The Undeclared For Life Manifesto and want to take things to the next level, you need to check out Emilie’s other book, Renaissance Business, which will guide you step-by-step through the process of creating a business around your multipotentiality. Highly recommended for all creative types who can’t decide what they want to be.

3. 279 Days to Overnight Success

by Chris Guillebeau

In this inspirational free report, Chris documents how he became a full-time writer in 279 days, as well as sharing tips for avoiding nay-sayers, building traffic, and his views on Google AdSense (it sucks).

You may need to adapt Chris’ advice to your own personal situation, but if you’re interested in building your own career doing what you love doing, then you’ll finish this book feeling like it’s a lot more realistic than you first thought.

5. Eleven Tips for Success for Fine Artists

by Aletta de Wal

These great tips really get into the details of what it takes to be a successful artist, from clarifying your artistic voice and artistic direction, to investing in your business skills and learning about applicable laws and tax requirements.

You have to subscribe to the free Ezine to download the 11 tips, but if you want to be an artist, then that Ezine is probably something you’ll benefit from too.

6. How to Be Creative

by Hugh McLeod

If you feel like your artistic passion has been slowly dying, and you are wanting to reclaim your creativity, Hugh McLeod’s excellent free eBook is full of great advice to inspire you and get your creative juices flowing again.

As Hugh says – “doing something seriously creative is one of the most amazing experiences one can have, in this or any other lifetime”.

8. Zero Hour Work Week

by Jonathan Mead

This one is again more for inspiration than artistic advice. Jonathan describes his journey to “getting paid to be me”, and reveals why the world needs you to do what you love.

You may have heard about the 4-hour work week. Well Jonathan Mead has a zero-hour work week. That’s not to say that he just louges about all day doing nothing. The disctinction is that he loves what he does, so it doesn’t feel like work at all. Sounds good eh?

Bonus Items

After publishing this article, several other awesome free guides came to my attention, which I feel are also worthy of a mention:

9. The Tower

by Chris Guillebeau

Another awesome manifesto from Chris, who really should be charging for this stuff! The Tower is all about the concepts of urgency and legacy. “How can we incorporate creative work and the desire to build something into our routine? What truly matters?”

Other Suggestions Welcome

I hope you found something in this list that inspired you to take the next step toward your creative career.

Obviously, there are tons of eBooks out there, and I’m sure there are other great guides that I just haven’t come across yet, so if you know of any similar free resources that you found particularly valuable, I would love to hear about them.

Did you find any of these free guides inspring? Please share your thoughts in the comments below, along with any other suggestions you may have.

9 Comments on 8 Awesome Free Guides I Wish I Had Read Years Ago

That’s a blogpost I’ve been meaning to put together for a while haha
Well done, you!!
Just awesome how much super valuable free resources are out there. I love the blogosphere, really. Finally some business ethics I can get along with (most anyway).

I have never heard some of these, and perhaps just to add a bit to your list, I would add The Tower, by Chris Guillebeau, it’s one of the most beautiful manifestos I have ever seen. And with truly encouraging stuff inside.